The Last Evans
by Lily meet Ginny
Summary: Imagine how it would feel being the last one to bear your last name. No particular family, no one to count on. Imagine being the last in line, the only one who could say "Yes, thank you very much, I am an Evans." I'm only eighteen. ON HIATUS
1. Beginnings of a Bad Summer

(**A/N:** I don't own this world. The characters belong to J.K Rowling. The plot is mine though.)

Imagine how it would feel being the last one to bear your last name. No particular family, few relative, no one to count on. Imagine being the last in line, the only one who could hold your head up high and say "yes, thank you very much, I am an Evans." I'm only eighteen. Looking back, when I started Hogwarts, I imagined my graduation day being full of family. My parents would be there, laughing and smiling. My mother would say, "That's our daughter! A fully trained witch, and beautiful to boot. We're so proud of you honey!" My father would have clapped me on the back, his eyes a bit moist. I imagined that, by then, Tuney would have gotten over her grudge against me. She would hug me and we would go have dinner as a family. Then I would be off to start whatever career I had chosen.

There is just over a month until end of year and there isn't a chance of my daydream coming true. Actually, none of my family will be at my graduation. There isn't anyone left. My father was an only child, and mum's sibling had already passed away. My grandparents all died before I went to Hogwarts. The first one to go out of my immediate family was Tuney. I came home from Hogwarts last summer, expecting to have some time off from writing essays and preparing for NEWTS, some time to relax. My dad met me at the train station, wearing a fixed sort of look. It surprised me, to say the least. Usually both my parents were there, wanting to see my friends. We would usually stop somewhere on the way home to pick up food for dinner that night. Sometimes Petunia even came, though she had not recently. My dad showing up alone was just one cause for alarm. The other was the look plastered to his face. He was a cheerful sort, serious though able to see the best in a situation. I hadn't seen a look like this in quite a while.

"Is everything alright," I asked, looking up at him questioningly. He looked older than when I had last seen him, perhaps with more wrinkles or with a few more grey hairs showing. He was grumbling to himself, something he only does when he's upset or trying to work out how to say something. I had my trunk on the trolley, and wheeled it forward while I waited for him to collect his thoughts. We were almost to the car before he answered me.

"Honey, I have some bad news. It's about Petunia."

I froze. I hoped he wasn't implying what I thought. He appeared to not notice my sudden stop, for he continued talking.

"Do you remember last Christmas, when Petunia brought that _boy_ home?"

I wished I could forget that boy. He was a true git. He matched his last name well. I remember settling down for supper on Christmas Eve, placing the last dish of food on the table. My mum had just sat down, and Dad was just waiting for Petunia to step in before he carved the ham. I heard a door slam and voices in the entry. I whipped up my wand quickly. I doubted that it would be death eaters, but a girl a year below me had lost her parents to the monsters just before Christmas break. There was no reason to take unnecessary chances. Big mistake. For what to my wondering eyes should appear, not Death eaters rounding the corner, but my dear elder sister with some strange man. She was glaring at me, but my wand was tucked fast away and I had eyes only for this unpleasant man. He was gruff looking, of average height, and fat. Not the type of fat that is warm and encompassing and gives off an air of comfort, but a gross, sickly fat, one that suggests a coronary bypass should take place sooner than later. I could tell my mum was surprised. For one, my mum liked Christmas Eve dinner to be a time for family. We could invite anyone we like over for dinner on Christmas day, but Christmas Eve was just ours. We kept the tree lit, cooked, ate dinner, and drove to midnight service. We'd done this every year for as long as I could remember. Petunia breaking tradition was not going to go over well. Also, the bloke wasn't even dressed properly. His pants were far too tight, revealing lines I'm sure my mother had no desire to see, and his tie wasn't even tied correctly. He was wearing some cheap, boring tie with the end barely past his midsection. I could see my dad frowning at this. He was a fairly conservative man and prided himself on knowing how to tie his tie in plenty of ways.

The bloke standing in the entryway obviously sensed our discomfort, for he stepped forward and said,

"Vernon Dursley. How do you do?"

That was it. No 'hello, sir, how are your holidays' or 'Madame, your dress looks fabulous' or any other form of pleasantries. My parents seemed flabbergasted. I wasn't surprised. Upon hearing his name, I had an idea of who he was. His father had owned a drill bit company, a company that had remained in the family since it was first created. Upon his father's death, rumor had it that Vernon had sold part of the company to a drilling company for a fair chunk of change and an executive job. I guess I had found out what my sister saw in him.

"This is my boyfriend, father and mother. I invited him to join us for supper tonight," Petunia said stiffly. They were both still standing in entryway so my mother stood and pulled over an extra chair, putting it in between Petunia and my Dad, but across from me. I could tell by now that this was not going to be an enjoyable night. And so it wasn't (stupid self-fulfilling prophesies). I had to watch my sister simper over Dursley all night, and listen to him belch and talk mundanely about work. Any time the conversation would turn toward me, Tuney would turn the conversation back toward herself or Vernon. Still, my dad finally managed to get a word in.

"So Lilykins, how's your studying going," my dad asked, turning to look at me. I knew he was fascinated by what I was learning in school and was concerned I hadn't had enough time to finish my homework over the break, but a glance over at Petunia told me that now was not the time. A loud scraping sound startled me. I almost drew my wand again but thought better of it. I was only Vernon scooting forward at the mention of my school, a malicious grin plastered to his ugly face.

"So you go to a school for magicians eh," he barked, looking maniacal. I did not like the direction this conversation was going. Petunia never mentioned my magic to anyone, nor was she permitted to. My parents made that clear the day that Professor Dumbledore showed up on our front porch. The idea that this blundering fool knew anything was outside of my realm of comfort.

"I'm not quite sure I'm following you," I said, gritting my teeth and glaring at him. It was the same glare that stopped Potter in his tracks so many times. This Dursley guy had some nerve though. He chose to keep talking.

"Oh I think you know perfectly well what I'm talking about," he sneered. "That school you go to. The one that teaches you how to turn normal things into rats and spiders."

From the looks of it, Dursley was pretty stupid. I looked at him and grinned, which seemed to catch him off guard.

"You do realize," I said slowly, "that if what you say is true, I could easily turn you into something too." I stopped for a moment and gave him a quick up and down, the way I'd only seen Sirius do to the Slytherin brother of his, the brother who was likely to turn to the path of darkness and betray his brother as a blood traitor. "Perhaps a pig," I mused. Very much to my surprise, he didn't back down.

"You're a freak," he hissed at me, eyes alight with malice. "You will always be a freak. Your sister is lucky to have escaped from this foolishness."

His words stung. For me, family had meant so much. They offered hope and support even when my world seemed like it was going to collapse inward. He made it seem like I was the only reason that Petunia fought with our parents. At this point, my dad stood up. He had seen the hurt in my eyes; he knew that deadly tone of mine. I had a temper. I didn't, wouldn't step down from something I felt strongly about. My father stood protectively, his eyes gleaming with pride of his family.

"You have insulted my family," my dad said, glaring at the boy. "I believe that it is time for you to leave." My sister stood up at this.

"Dad, why should Vernon have to leave? He only said what's true. How is it his fault that Lily is what she is?" she questioned my dad. That surprised me. I knew that she hadn't kept my secret, but this sort of betrayal I didn't imagine. My dad sighed, apparently not wanting to push this issue.

"Just go," he sighed. "We don't need this right now."

Dursley stood up, grabbed his coat, and headed for the door. I could hear him muttering on the way out something about freaks. Suddenly, I heard Dursley yelp in the hall way. I tried not to laugh. You see, in the quickest piece of magic I'd done in quite a while, not to mention wandless, I had adjusted Dursley's tie to a proper length and tightness. I guessed I wasn't something he was used to.

In the time that I had been staring at the empty door way, Petunia had stood up and was now heading out as well.

"Where are you going, young lady?" my dad asked, having sat back down at the head of the table. His eyes caught hers, and a sudden rush of emotions crossed her face, before they returned to the cold expression which had been plastered there ever since I had returned home for winter break.

"I'm going back out with Vernon. His sister invited us over for Christmas dinner."

At this notice, it wasn't my dad who reacted, but my mum.

"You will be staying right here, Petunia," she said in a tone that would not allow any arguing. "Our dinner has already been disrupted enough for one night. This is our family tradition, and you will take part in it. Please, let's just have some peace and quiet. It's Christmas," my mother pleaded, for the sake of our family, for the sake of good will and joy. My sister begrudgingly sat back down and ate dinner with our family, went to midnight service with our family, and settled into a sort of truce with me. She and I wouldn't talk, and she didn't bring over or mention that Vernon Dursley again while I was on break.

I turned back to my dad as he finished loading my trunk into the car, shoving it a little harder than he normally would. I could tell he was angry, and wisely chose to wait to speak until after he got my trunk in place.

"I remember him," I said slowly. "Why, what's wrong, Dad?"

My dad glanced at me as we got into the car to head home. He took a deep breath and gauged my mood. I had gotten my red hair from him, as well as my green eyes, and he had long known about our famous red hair temper. I was a bit more even-kiltered than he was, I hoped. Nothing had prepared me for what he was about to say though.

"Lily, your sister is getting married. To Vernon Dursley."

(**A/N: ** For the purpose of comedy and to enhance the plot of this story, Lily's piece of underage magic wouldn't have been traced. It seems logical that, while on winter break from Hogwarts, while the students still have homework, the tracer on underage magic would be inactive.)


	2. Mistakes

(A/N: I originally intended to post a shorter version of this that ended events a touch sooner, but I figured it needed to be written at least to where I stopped. Thank you so much to my beta, TheCursed Quill. she's been amazing in helping me get this posted this quickly. Once again, I don't own this world. The characters belong to J.K Rowling. The plot is mine though.)

To say the least, I was in shock. My sister, the one I had been so close with growing up, was marrying the guy who so intensely disliked me? When had this happened? When had she even gotten that serious with him? Now that I thought back on it, though, I had been pretty busy this last semester. I had taken over some of the patrol shifts for prefects who had their O. and N.E. at the end, and my teachers hadn't exactly eased up on the work load either. It had been difficult to find time to write, and when I was home at Easter, I found time lacking there as well, for exams had been fast approaching.

Then again, Petunia hadn't written to me in ages. I managed quick letters every now and then, but I had only received one from her since Christmas. I mean sure my parents wrote to me all the time, and would always write that 'Petunia sends her love', but there hadn't been a letter that she had taken the time to write since the fiasco. I watched as the car sped further away from what I considered to be my world and closer to a nightmare of a summer with my sister's fiancé, who might have given the medieval witch hunters a run for their money with his attitude toward witches. I laughed as I realised that since magic ran in families, there was a chance he and Petunia could have a magical child. Wouldn't that be ironic? The laugh quickly fell silent as I thought of how Vernon would react to a magical child inside his home. It certainly wouldn't fit his idea of normalcy. Although, when had an engagement that had happened this quickly been normal? I looked up at my dad as the buildings of London faded.

"Dad, when did Tuney and Vernon get engaged," I asked suddenly. It seemed slightly odd that they were announcing their engagement a mere six months after we had met him for the first time. How could she even feel that strongly about him after that short of time? I mean it may be the seventies and all, but still…

My dad was careful to keep his eyes on the road. He didn't dare look up at me, for he knew I wasn't going to like this piece of news. It had to be sometime between last night and Easter Break, though I hadn't even heard his name at Easter Break.

"Honey, Petunia announced her engagement at the beginning of March."

My jaw fell open. March? That was three months ago! Easter had only been two months ago. How in the world had this happened so fast? Why didn't she tell me? Come to think of that…

"Dad, how come no one told me?" I was just a little angry now. This was my sister's wedding. The sister I'd spent countless years gallivanting with on the playground. The only sister I even had. "I mean, this is Tuney's wedding, for crying out loud! Has she set a date yet?"

"She insisted that she tell you herself. However, when she didn't tell you at Easter, your mum said she had to write and let you know. We found out last night that she hadn't written yet, so," he paused to grin at me, "I'm the one entrusted with breaking the news. Apparently, Petunia had been seeing this Vernon bloke for longer than was implied at Christmas. Almost seven months longer. But your mum didn't seem to care, since Petunia was getting married and all. Your mum and Petunia are at the Dursley's house for tea, and to discuss the plans for the wedding. I was just told to let you know that you will be trying on dresses for the wedding tomorrow."

My heart leapt in excitement. I might not like this Vernon bloke, but I was excited that Petunia had remembered our plans when we were little. We had both sworn to each other that we would be each other's bridesmaid. It was something I had always planned on, though God knows who I would marry. I remembered when we were little, we used to put on Mum's makeup and heels and play wedding. Tuney always looked so grown up in the puffy dresses and teetering heels. I didn't care if I didn't like her fiancé; I was going to make sure this was the best wedding she could even dream of. I just wanted her to be happy and for us to get along again.

Soon enough, we were pulling into the drive way. I unloaded my things and went upstairs to start on my summer homework. I had a foot long essay for Potions on the properties of a specific sinew repairing potion and its properties that Slughorn had suggested "might" come up on our N.E.W.T's. I might love school, or perhaps I was just eager to prove myself, but I wasn't ready for a full year of "you might find this on your N.E.W.T's". Still, I might as well get it done so I could have as much time to help with the wedding as needed.

That night's dinner was a little less eventful than I had expected it to be. I had started cooking using the recipe my mom had left out for dinner, and was nearly finished with it by the time my mum came home. Surprisingly, she was alone. I waited for Mum to set down her purse and hang up her coat before I badgered her with questions.

"Mmm, smells good honey," Mum said, as she walked back into the kitchen. She reached over to give me a hug. "How was the rest of your school year?"

"It was pretty busy," I replied honestly. I launched into a quick revelation of my last few weeks at Hogwarts before considering what I had been about to ask Mum.

"Mum, where's Tuney? I thought she would be here tonight."

My mum sighed. I frowned at this; my parents had developed an odd habit of sighing lately when something wasn't going right. It was slightly disquieting.

"She's still over with Vernon and his sister, Marge. They're deciding which of the invitations to send out." She smiled warmly at me. "I grew tired of that after a while, so I decided to check and see how you and your father were doing, fending for yourselves. It seems like I don't have to worry about you, at least," she said to me, looking up to playfully glare at my dad as he strolled into the kitchen.

"Aw Honey, you don't have to worry about us," my dad said, throwing an arm around my shoulder. "Lily's a bloody good cook. I figured if I wanted dinner, I should stay out of the kitchen." He grinned cheekily at my mum. Dad was notorious for burning anything and everything he tried to cook. While my mom and I could both cook admirably, it seemed as if Petunia might follow Dad's gene path. I hoped not, for her future family's sake. I didn't know who would cook for them then.

Soon enough, our dinner was cooked and quickly devoured. Talk was mostly of my schooling and of Petunia's wedding. After a thorough scrubbing of the dishes, I headed up to my room to finish some homework. I even wrote more than I needed on the sinew repair potion. Later on, I headed down the hall from my trip to the bathroom to brush my teeth before bed. I must have not heard Petunia come in, for she and Mum were talking in her bedroom. Well, more like arguing, and I hesitated in the hallway. Perhaps it would have been better if I had just continued, for what I heard wasn't pleasant.

"Mother, I don't want her to be in the wedding," came the distinctive voice of my sister.

"Sweetie, she's your sister," Mum argued softly. "You two have talked about being each other's bridesmaids since you could talk in the first place. I know you two may be having a spat right now, but you'll be thankful she was a bridesmaid in the future. I know so."

"You just don't get it, Mother. She's a freak. She's nothing like me. I don't even want her to come to the wedding, much less be a bridesmaid. I can't believe she was ever my sister."

I heard Mum persuading her to think differently, but I couldn't handle to hear anything more. I turned and fled down the hallway, back into the safety of my own room. I didn't realise it until then, but I already had tears spilling down my cheeks. I couldn't keep it all bottled inside of me. I tried to think of anyone I could talk to. Normally I would owl Alice, but I knew she was too excited at the prospect of her own future wedding, and I didn't want to ruin that. Marlene McKinnon, though one of my friends, wouldn't react well to the news. As for Sev, though I wanted to write to him, or simply run down to his house, we hadn't been on great speaking terms as of late. There was just one too many mudblood references from his creepy friends. Though he might have apologized for calling me that, when he hung out with people who called me that, it was as good as coming from him. Anyways, I knew he'd probably be out with a bunch of them right now.

Coming up empty with people to talk to, I did the only thing that I could do. I sat down, got out a sheet of parchment and a quill, and I wrote. I wrote down everything that had happened, from Christmas Eve dinner to not knowing she was dating him, to finding out she was getting married, to finding out that my own sister didn't want me at her wedding. I even poured out things I hadn't told Alice; about the way my sister treated me these past few summers. I folded it up neatly and stuck it in an envelope. My hand must have had a mind of its own though, for I was soon scrawling a name on that envelope and tying the letter onto my owl, Hecate. It was only as I opened up my window for Hecate to deliver her letter that I realised what I had done. On that envelope, written in handwriting just a touch messier than my own (for my hand had been shaking) was a name I'd never thought I'd write. James Potter. I knew I wouldn't be getting any sleep tonight.

(A/N: So the plot thickens. Please let me know what you think, and I'll try to have a new chapter up in the next week. I'm on vacation though, so it likely won't be any sooner.)


	3. Placations

Chapter Three: Placations

(**A/N: **The third chapter is finally up. It caused a few problems, with certain scenes not wanting to unravel. And I have my second chapter updated with my beta'ed version. Thank you so much to my beta, TheCursedQuill. She's helped a lot. Ok guys, Let me know how I'm going with this story. Thanks to daleia for being the first to review my story! Also, please note that since it took me so long to write this, I'm uploading it without having it beta'ed first. Sorry for any mistakes.)

I woke up the next morning after a long, sleepless night spent tossing about. I couldn't even begin to fathom the mess I had gotten myself into. My own sister didn't want me to be in her wedding. Well, more like at it. Not only was I worrying about going shopping (or not) for Petunia's wedding, now I just had to throw James Potter into the mix.

Wasn't it enough dealing with him during the year? I remembered the first time he had asked me out. It was during fourth year. He had turned to me after a potion he'd been working on had turned Sirius's hair gold. James hadn't known how to reverse the effects, and it was a few days shy of Easter break. It really wasn't a good colour on Sirius, but he had thought it was a brilliant idea. His whole Slytherin family would hate it. Sirius kept going on about keeping his hair that colour over the break just to irk his mum. Until James looked at him and said, perfectly seriously,

"Sirius, mate, you realize that if you went home with your hair looking like that, your mum would probably curse it green? Permanently?" James looked up at his friend with wide eyes as a look of horror spread on Sirius' face. "I'd hate to see what the Slytherins would think."

I couldn't help it. I had giggled at that moment. In my defense, it had been pretty funny. The way James had just brought Sirius back to reality, the way his features changed with his mood.

James looked halfway over his shoulder to look at me. When he caught my eye, he grinned at me. It was a sweet grin, not the cocky one I saw so often now. He spun on the stool he was sitting on until he was facing me. Until we were only a few inches apart.

"Lily, go out with me," he said, staring at me. "Please, go out with me."

That caught me off guard. I had seen him staring at me before, but I had never thought much on that. For one, he was one of the hottest guys in my year. With his wild black hair and his eyes on the border of greens, grays, and browns, that was enough for practically the whole girl population to faun over. I knew he could be thoughtful, that he was extremely loyal to all of his friends, that he possessed a great deal of chivalry, and that he was pretty smart. There were things he could do instantly that I took a bit longer to figure out, and that was pretty rare for me. But even with all of those qualities in his favour, I knew that Sev didn't like him. In fact, saying that Sev didn't like James Potter was a euphemism. They practically loathed each other. I wasn't quite sure why, for their fights were never over a specific issue, as far as I knew. Just flying insults and hexes. Sev loved to blame James for those fights, but I knew how often he sought out James Potter, hoping to one up him.

But Sev was my friend. It was for that reason, and that reason alone that I said no to James Potter. A few weeks later, the whole school miraculously ended up with gold hair. Well, except for James and me. Sev was horrified with his own hair.

"I look horrible in gold," he yelled as he caught his reflection in a suit of armour as we were walking to class. Sev had been one of the last people to have his hair change. I was more than slightly surprised that mine wasn't already gold. I opened my mouth to say something, to try to reassure him, but Sev's next words shocked me. "At least you look good with gold hair," he fumed as he tore off toward his class. I stood rooted to the spot, still in view of the suit of armour. Still in a position where I could see my own face, enveloped by red hair, my mouth hanging open.

"What's wrong," came a voice from behind me. In the shiny metal, I could see James standing there, watching my reflection.

"What colour is my hair," I shot at him, not even bothering to turn around. I could see him perfectly fine from where I was.

"A lovely shade of red," he answered evenly. It was obvious he wasn't going to say any more without being prompted, and since I figured he was responsible of everyone else's hair turning gold, I decided to push the issue.

"Red," I asked, raising my eyebrows. "Why not gold? For that matter, why does everyone else see gold?" I looked at him questioningly. His resolve must have dissolved, for he sighed and pulled me into the corner.

"Promise not to tell anyone," he pleaded. My curiosity got the better of me.

"Ok," I hesitatingly agreed.

"I turned everyone's hair gold."

That hadn't been what I was expecting. I laughed.

"Some secret," I said. "All the teachers have probably figured that out, given that you and I were the only ones without gold hair. I bet they're searching for you right now."

"No they won't be," James said confidently. "You see, to the teachers and to the rest of the students, everyone in the school has gold hair. Even Filch."

That hadn't been what I was expecting, either. Two for James Potter, zilch for me. Talk about the element of surprise.

"How is that possible," I asked, turning around to meet his eyes. He looked at me guiltily, like he was hiding something, something he wasn't sure if he wanted me to know. I watched as the indecision in his eyes turned to resolution.

"I love your hair," he said softly. He reached out and lightly tugged on a strand. His eyes still held mine captivated. "I couldn't stand not having it red, especially if you didn't want it that way. We convinced the elves to let us put the potion in the food at breakfast. But when we turned everyone's hair gold, I slipped the antidote in your food. And I placed a glamour on you, but linked the stability to the both of us. So therefore, everyone else sees gold, but you see black and I see red."

I stared at him in amazement. He couldn't have. There was no way.

"James Potter there is no way you did that," I told him. "That's an advanced piece of magic. Most people taking their NEWT's couldn't even perform normal glamours, much less do that. There isn't even anything like that in our textbook this year."

"But I did do it," he said beseechingly. "My dad is an Auror, and I saw it in one of his books. I figured it was worth a try. Probably the only reason I got it to work was because there were several transfiguration aspects to it." He eyed me carefully. "You can't tell anyone. Especially not Sirius. He'd likely hex me into next week if he knew I skipped someone on a prank." He stopped to think for a moment. "Though I could probably convince him that, by skipping you and concealing it from him, I was in fact pranking him."

"Teach me how to perform the hidden glamour and I won't tell anyone," I said hurriedly. I wouldn't tell anyone anyways, but that would be an amazing piece of magic to know how to do. He agreed. In fact, he started teaching me a bit, the principles to a basic glamour, before the teachers figured out who was responsible for the golden hair prank. By the time his detentions ended, another year had started. We'd only met a few times before that anyways. However, he and Sev chose to have a massive fight at the beginning of the year and plus he had grown quite a bit more cocky, so I didn't see him as much after that.

I sat up and stretched. No use laying in bed dwelling on it. It was possible that he wouldn't even write anything back. He might think the whole thing was a joke. I didn't particularly care. Well, maybe I did, but it didn't matter. I got up and changed into a pair of jeans and some of my nicer school clothes. I put on a touch of makeup too. That usually made my mum happy. As I glanced in the mirror to finish applying my mascara, I noticed that Hecate's cage was still empty. I wasn't quite sure what to make of that. Hecate usually got back from delivering letters fairly quickly. I wasn't sure as to whether I should be happy or disappointed. As I heard the pots and pans clanging downstairs however, all thoughts of Hecate and James Potter were out of my head instantly.

My mum usually made breakfast the day I got home. Her breakfasts were some of the best meals I could remember. Lemon blueberry pancakes, crispy bacon, and juice. With the way Mum cooked, sometimes I wondered if she had some magic in her. I bounded down the stairs, knowing that no matter what happened that day, my mum's breakfast was made with love and would keep me solid. Yeah, I was going to need that breakfast. Waiting for me at the kitchen table, in my seat mind you, was Vernon Dursley. He was a much better dressed Vernon Dursley, but that wasn't the issue. What made me stop was the look on his face. He was eyeing me again, as if I was suddenly going to sprout horns. Bloody hell. Talk about messed up. I'd hate to see what look he would give me after meeting a dark wizard. I'd started to smile, but that thought made me stop. If he met a dark wizard, there wouldn't be enough left to give me any sort of look. I sighed. I knew I'd always get it from both sides. Petunia and Vernon would hate me for being a witch in a muggle family, and purebloods would hate me for being muggleborn in a wizard society. I eyed the stack of pancakes sitting at the lone end of the table and trooped over to it. The music was playing on the radio and I heard a clip of a song I'd heard before. I couldn't remember where. I stopped chewing to listen.

_Love was such an easy game to play, oh I believe in yesterday…_

I just couldn't place it. I knew that would bug me all day. I could have sworn I heard it at Hogwarts. That wasn't likely though, since this was a muggle station. Turning back to the table, I watched my sister fawning over her fiancé. It was just a bit sickening, but then again, I had never been one to snog around the common room. My mum hustled back into the room.

"Are you girls ready for some shopping today?" she asked, not seeming to care that my sister was glowering across the table. She went over to the table and began to clear off some of the dirty dishes. I still had half of my pancakes left so I tried to focus my attention on eating the delicious morsels. On the other side of the table, Vernon stood up, helping Petunia up as well.

"I best be heading out, Petunia dear. Grunnings can't start running without me." He chuckled at his own self importance as he leaned over to give my sister a kiss. "I'll see you later tonight and do let me know how shopping goes. "

I must say, that as he strode out of the kitchen leaving behind my simpering sister, I happened to notice that his pants were much looser and his tie longer. That might explain why he had looked better dressed earlier.

I turned my attention back to Petunia and Mum as Petunia started whining again. It was the same as last night, about how she didn't want me to be a bridesmaid. This time, the scene was for my own ears.

"Mother there is no way that freak is going to be in my wedding," Petunia repeated, for my behalf. It was obvious from the look my mother gave her that this argument had been settled the night before. My sister apparently just liked to dig her own grave. "I don't want her near me on my special day."

Mum had enough. I'd always been able to tell just how much I could push my mother until she snapped, but Petunia lacked this delicate art. Then again, even I didn't see that one coming.

"Petunia, dear," Mum smiled angrily before continuing. "What you have failed to realize so far is that your father and I are paying for your wedding. Like it or not, Lily will be one of your bridesmaids. Otherwise, you and Vernon can simply go and elope. Now go and get ready."

(**A/N: **I really don't think that James and Lily ever hated each other. I think that Severus probably came in the way. After all, who would you be loyal to, the guy who seems mesmerized by you, or your childhood best friend, the one who opened up a whole new world to you? And I'm assuming that after years of listening to girls fawning over 'Jamsie', she probably would call him Potter every now and then. Oh, another interesting fact: the Beatles song, Yesterday, was rereleased on 8 March, 1976, which explains why it would be on the radio. Please note: I do not, in any way or form own the lyrics. The usage of the verses above is merely a tribute, and is based from the music, as heard on Help!.)


	4. Pretty in Pink

Chapter Four: Pretty in Pink

(**A/N: **This is a continuation from Chapter Three. Combined, they were a bit too long so I separated them. Enjoy!)

"Petunia, dear," Mum smiled angrily before continuing. "What you have failed to realize so far is that your father and I are paying for your wedding. Like it or not, Lily will be one of your bridesmaids. Otherwise, you and Vernon can simply go and elope. Now go and get ready."

That was below the belt. My sister had dreamed about her wedding her whole entire life. She wouldn't throw it away to elope and my mother knew that. Smart woman. I was glad she was on my side for this battle. My sister fumed as she stomped up the stairs. It was amazing how much drama she created. My mum sat down at the table as soon as Petunia was out of hearing range.

"Honey, I'm sorry you had to hear that," my mum said as she frowned. I could tell my mum had been aging. Her hair had quite a bit more grey in it, and there were creases in her face I swore hadn't been there before. When had she gotten this old? She reached back to smooth her hair. "Petunia is just being so stubborn. She's so jealous of you and of whom you are that she's trying to isolate herself from it." My mum took a small sip of tea before she continued. "She's attached to normalcy. But since the type of relationship your father and I had resulted in us having a magical child, she's looking at extremes to find normalcy. Honestly, I worry that she's only marrying Vernon because of his projected averageness and his loathing of everything different. His intolerance has only made this worse. Your father said he would kick Vernon out, but that would only tear the family apart."

I think that was the first time anyone ever admitted that Petunia wasn't normal. It would kill her to hear that. She worked so hard to be the normal child. That type of hate wasn't typical though. I'd known she had hated me for quite some time. I'd fought it though. I'd always hoped that she and I would be the sisters we were when I was younger. I knew that could never be. So I made one of the toughest decisions I had ever made before.

"Mum, if Petunia doesn't want me to be a bridesmaid, I don't need to be one." That one little sentence cost me a lot. It was the end of a childhood dream. It was the end of trying to make things right between us. It was, essentially, the end of me trying to be the sister she didn't want to be. But at the same time, I knew it was the best thing for her. It was her wedding, after all. It was her life.

My mum's eyes shone with tears; I knew it killed her to see us fighting. She had always hoped that her two little flowers would get along, that we would thrive and blossom side by side. There would always be a barrier between us. We would never grow in the same garden.

"It might be best, dear," Mum choked out.

Just then, Petunia came bouncing down the stairs.

"Ready to go, Mother? What might be best," she asked, looking surreptitiously at me. Oh well. There would be no love lost from her over this.

"Petunia, I'm not going to be a bridesmaid in your wedding," I said, waiting for a reaction from her. I was still hoping she would stop me and tell me she wanted me to be in it.

Instead, she turned to Mum and squealed, throwing her arms around my mum. I watched as my mum stiffened.

"Oh thank you, thank you Mother," she gushed. "Oh this is going to be the best day ever."

My mother frowned, if possible, even more. "Don't thank me," she told Petunia. "Thank Lily. She offered to give it up for you."

My sister turned to glare at me. "So does this mean you won't be coming to the wedding as well," she asked spitefully. That was more than I could suppress; I felt my temper creeping up on me. For once, I didn't care.

"Don't think you'll get that lucky," I said coldly. "I'll be right up front to watch your special day." Inside I was fuming. Nothing was ever enough. Having me away nine months of the year didn't suffice. Having Mum and Dad all to herself didn't cut it. She wouldn't be happy until I was permanently gone. I could let my sister go, but I would never let my parents go.

Mum hated our bickering, so she was quick to hustle us both out to the car. Even if I wasn't going to be a bridesmaid, I would still need a dress for the wedding. I had a feeling my dress robes just wouldn't work. Muggles just didn't understand that custom. The drive to London was a long and quiet one. Petunia sat in the front with Mum, and I sat in the back, as always. I stared out the window and watched the scenery fly by. This was one of the things that muggles had down better. Sure, you could apparate or floo, but you'd miss out on all of the scenery along the way. Taking the trip by broom wouldn't be too bad, but you would be too far up to see very much. No, I enjoyed driving the best. There was a certain simplicity to it. I couldn't wait to learn how. Soon enough, the sights of London began to colour my window.

It wasn't long before we pulled into our favourite shopping center. My mom and sister were quick to get out of the car. I trailed behind. I knew exactly which store they were headed to, the same store Petunia had been eyeing ever since she was a little girl. Mind you, I had been eyeing it too, so I knew exactly where it was. It was as I was stalling, waiting to go to the store that I knew would consume my day, that I saw a familiar face.

"Mark," I called, heading over to the dark skinned boy I hadn't seen in a year. He had been a seventh year Gryffindor prefect in my fifth year, when I first became one. Mark Rivers had been one of my favorite people to do prefect rounds with. He had a great sense of humor and knew plenty of amusing ways to keep you up during long rounds. After working with him for a year, I was surprised that he hadn't been chosen for Head Boy. He never made a student feel bad about their families or anything in their lives that they couldn't control. He was brave and tended to look at things in a different sort of way than others.

"Hey Lily, how have you been?" he asked. He looked different since I had last seen him. His eyes held a bit more knowledge, showed signs of seeing more than they had the last time that I'd seen him. It was quite intriguing, really.

"I've been pretty good," I told him. It felt like we were in the prefects lounge again. I told him about what had occurred last year at Hogwarts, and he told me of his past year at the ministry. He was actually scouting to get some inside knowledge as to a undercover job he would be working on later this year. He had to impersonate a muggle in order to find out the image they held of witches and wizards, as well as to determine what the masses thought of a few very public wizard blunders and misdeeds. He was supposed to be studying how normal muggles acted in everyday life. It actually wasn't a bad place to study muggles. The shops were normally packed, and muggle boys dressed and behaved the same way there that they did anyplace else.

After about twenty minutes, I bid him farewell so as he could return to his "research". I quickly turned and walked across the shopping centre toward the bridal shop I expected Petunia and Mum to be in. I wasn't disappointed. I found Petunia in a very frilly gown with piles of more sophisticated gowns crumpled on the floor. It was obvious that she had made her mark there. My mum, naturally, was holding up a more elegant gown and trying to convince Petunia to try it on.

"No Mother," Petunia screeched, her nose high in the air, "I will not try on that gown. I like this one. It becomes me."

I'm not quite sure what Petunia found becoming about the gown. It had huge, puffy sleeves, far too many sequins and beads, a rather unbecoming neckline, and looked far more adequate for a girl playing dress up than for a woman about to be married. But then again, my taste had always differed from that of my sister. Still, my mum spent twenty ill wasted minutes trying to talk Petunia into a different dress. Petunia had her mind set, so she got the gown she wanted.

"This is my dream wedding dress," Petunia delightfully told the salesclerk who placed her dress on the sales bar. While Petunia kept a careful watch on her beloved dress, my mum and I walked over to the bridesmaid dress section of the store. There were hundreds of dresses, sorted out by colour. I felt as if I should stick close to Petunia's wedding colours though. That wouldn't be easy, though. She had selected various odd shades of pink for her colours. My red hair didn't exactly work with that color very well. It took some considerable time, but near the end of my search, I found a gown tucked and hidden behind others on the rack. It was perfect. The fabric was satin but delicate, with an open back. Better than that, the pink was more of a dusty or ancient rose than a true pink. It enhanced my red hair rather than clashing with it. As soon as my mom saw me in it, I knew it was a go. The dress was actually fairly plain, except for the back. It wouldn't hog any attention away from Petunia, yet I knew I looked marvelous in it. That was enough for me.

Mum paid for our purchases, and we all piled into the car (with me in the back seat again, mind you) heading for home. After a peaceful drive home, apart from Petunia constantly bringing up her bloody dress, we were finally at home. Mum and Petunia were quick to head inside, for they had a photographer to book. I would have hurried in, but I saw Hecate perched in a tree in our backyard. That wasn't at all normal for her. She knew she could fly around as much as she wanted during the night, but during the day she might be seen. Even more strange, she would have just returned from a lengthy flight. I was surprised she wasn't in her cage sleeping. Carrying my new dress carefully in my hands, I strode across the yard, pulling my wand and hiding it under my purchase. I don't know why I had been so wand happy lately. Perhaps it was due to all of the "random disappearances". Even so, I was ready. I crossed the grass and moved closer to the tree.

Even though I was looking up at Hecate, I didn't miss who stepped out from concealment behind the tree, though it startled me. A certain James Potter had decided that now, in broad daylight and on a muggle street, was an acceptable time to respond to my letter… in person.

(**A/N:** Finished this during study hall. Sorry that the last two chapters took so long to post. I started up college again, and am currently balancing school, writing, and my sorority. Now that study hours have started back up again, I should be able to continue posting at a normal rate.)


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